Educators go through this process individually or collectively as a group. Good practice is created in use, and in reflection on use. One way into exploring good practice in use is to look at how standards actually operate in workplaces. For instance, quality systems in manufacturing such as ISO (International Organization for Standardization) are based on theories of how quality can be assured. O’Connor describes how workers then test out theories by bringing all their knowledge and experience of the workplace to the task; thus, subjecting theories to practice on the floor:

What is often evident in many workplaces is what some writers have referred to as the development and testing of ‘theories in use’ rather than espoused theories of work. Workers are forced to regularly question, and often abandon the official theory (or standard practice) as their experience demonstrates that these do not fit a particular situation. They are constantly…drawing on their own culture-based knowledge and experience of the work-life and the world, in relation to what their own reality tells them will work. This process is refined and honed in the course of daily work experience. (1995, no pagination).

As in the workplace, educators are refining and honing what constitutes good practice in their daily experiences of learning, teaching and partnering. These guidelines for good practice are meant to be tested out in the context of your community, its workplaces and your network. The guidelines represent the accumulated experiences and memory of workplace educators in Canada, the United States, Britain and Australia over the last 20 years. Nevertheless, they are only statements until you put them into use; over time, define your own good practices, document them, and continue to review and refine.